Dream Build - Rolling Cubes

Dream Build - Series 2, Episode 01 - Rolling Cubes

Episode Synopsis

Episode 01 - Rolling CubesDream Build is a series about Aussies who have been lucky enough to turn the dream of building their own home into a spectacular reality. The front door opens to some of Australia's cutting edge homes, revealing what can happen when the brief is pushed on design and budget.

Shane Hendriks is a builder and designer who came up with a unique idea for building his family home while mucking around with his son's building blocks.

His house consists of five cubes arranged in an ark to maximise the northerly aspect of the sun, with a sense of the cubes rolling and tumbling. There is even a 'floating cube' seemingly suspended between the second and third more prominent cubes on the ground.

Shane didn't want to install solar panels on the tiled exterior so he developed unique solar 'trees' to the sun to maximise energy efficiency. Inside is a range of technological innovations, from fingerprint entry, a tracking power point system, and a natural wall ventilation system. From the outside the house resembles an adventure playground, but inside it is compact and liveable.

"I had an opportunity to do things with this house that I couldn't do with a client - push the limits and extremities of the design itself as well as how the house works and functions," says Shane.

Shane's wife Caroline says, "People who visit for the first time marvel at what it must be like to live here. But for us, it was always going to be our family home, where our sons could grow up with plenty of space to run around in."